She needed a Doctor
by Oi-Watch-It-Spaceman
Summary: A midnight crisis leads to small amounts of whump and Doctor/Rose fluff. Oneshot.


**She needed a Doctor.**

_**Hee hee, I do love writing meaningless Doctor/Rose fluff, but this is the first one I've posted. Bit of whump for both characters but nothing too serious. Enjoy!**_

The alarms were blaring and the Doctor was a blur around the console, flicking switches and levers, flinging his leg up onto the console to smack buttons and shouting, very loudly, at the TARDIS, who for her part seemed not to be listening to a word he was saying.

"Oh no, no no no no no no, you stop that, stop that right now!" the Doctor bellowed, sprinting around the console to manically pump a bicycle pump, smacking a big purple button as he passed it. The TARDIS seemed to have decided it wanted to crash, only through time instead of space, and so the Doctor was having a very hard time directing her away from major historical events as he tried, in vain so far, locate the source of her troubles. The TARDIS lurched wildly, and the Doctor found himself clinging to the console as gravity shifted and, for one fleeting moment, his legs were flailing and he was hanging in the air, dangling above the wall which had chosen at that moment to suddenly become the floor. Another jolt and the world was up the right way again. "That's enough of that!" The Doctor spoke sternly to the console, as though it were a child that was misbehaving, all the time spinning a series of blue dials so fast his long fingers were a blur.

"Doctor, what's going on!?" came a familiar, concerned voice from the corner, and the Doctor span round in a flash, crisis or no crisis. He was struck with a sudden overwhelming fondness for the dishevelled figure in the door way, combined with a need to rush over and hug her and the strongest urge to laugh. Rose was standing with one arm braced against the doorframe, prepared in case of the sudden jolts which were becoming more and more frequent. Looking at her, the Doctor realised that it was only a few hours into her sleep cycle, about 3 in the morning Rose's time, which explained her appearance and confusion. She was wearing a baggy blue t-shirt and pyjama bottoms, bare feet just poking out of the bottom, curling up against the cold of the TARDIS floor. Rose's hair was messy, sticking up around her face not unlike a haystack, and the Doctor could see that, between her worry at the warning alarms and her still being half asleep, she was not altogether there yet. There was a little crease in between her eyes as she struggled to understand why she had been jolted out of bed at this unearthly hour, and she looked towards him, hoping he was the one who could straighten it all out for her. The Doctor stared into her worried, slightly glazed over eyes and smiled, an uncontrollable grin that he quickly smothered by turning around to the console and whacking it hard a few times with the mallet he kept around for just that purpose (or so he said).

"Oh, bit of a TARDIS issue, she seems to have decided that it's no fun in the vortex, bit of a crazy trip through time, got to find out what's causing it before we crash into the Battle of Waterloo or worse-" The Doctor gabbled at top speed which, upon reflection, probably did nothing to help Rose's confused state, but before either of them could say another word the TARDIS was tilting again, the other way this time, and both Timelord and sleep-deprived human found themselves tumbling down along the TARDIS floor and crashing into the console. There was an almighty crack as the Doctor's head struck something hard, and he slumped down, back to the console and legs sticking out in front of him. The lights flickered off and somewhere next to him he heard Rose cried out in pain as her side smacked into the console.

"Rose, Rose are you alright?" The Doctor was panicking now. He couldn't see anything, the room was the wrong way up, he couldn't reach the controls and his head was bursting in pain.

He reached out into the darkness, finding Rose's shoulder crushed against his arm. "Rose. Rose!" The Doctor was worried now, his own pain forgotten as he strained his ears for Rose's answer. He was so wrapped up in her uncharacteristic silence that he did not notice the TARDIS slowly tilting back to normal until the floor had settled back in the right place. The lights had gently flickered back on, dimmer than before but bright enough for him to see Rose's shape, hunched over beside him, crushed right into the side of the console.

"Rose, please-" The Doctor stopped before he touched her. At first he thought she was unconscious, which was a possibility considering the force of the jolt that had thrown them across the room – she was now lying on her left side, back to the console, curled into a little ball. She was clutching her right side with both hands, lying completely still as though asleep. The Doctor was crouching beside her, peering down at her face, but what he saw there stopped him dead. Her eyes were closed, but clamped shut as though she could not bear to open them; her lips were pressed together in a thin line; her face was much too white, and as the Doctor moved slightly closer, he heard the tiniest whimper of pain escape her lips.

"Rose, no, don't worry I'm here, I'm here, it's OK" the Doctor whispered, keeping up a stream of reassurances as he reached out his hand to cup her pale face. At the touch of his hand her eyes flew open, staring up at him as though only just realising he was there. He could see such pain in her eyes, but even as he stared into them Rose was reaching up, covering his hand with her own, letting him know she wasn't going anywhere.

The TARDIS groaned, and in an instant the Doctor was up on his feet, flying around the console once more, hand still warm from where Rose's hand had covered it. Because it had only been about a minute since the last jolt, and if the TARDIS suddenly tipped up again with Rose injured...he didn't want to think about it. If there was anything that could have spurred him into fixing this problem with the TARDIS, it was Rose in danger. He was rapidly pressing buttons like a madman, but it seemed there was method in his madness, because after a few more angry sounding groans from the TARDIS and a bit of excellent timing from the Timelord, the lights flickered back up to normal, the gentle rocking of the TARDIS calmed, and there was silence. The silence was broken by a weak voice:

"Doctor? I don't want to worry you, but..."

In moments the Doctor was back round the console, kneeling next to Rose and smiling his trademark grin, the 100 watt smile that he saved just for her. He reached for her hand, but Rose moved it of her own accord, and the smile froze on his face. All the blood in his veins seemed to turn to ice as he saw the red on her palm, the dark stain seeping through her blue t-shirt. He did not even have to think for a second. The Doctor bent down, curling one arm around her back and the other under her knees. "I'm so sorry Rose but this is going to hurt," he said gently, before smoothly standing up with her in his arms. A sharp inhale of pain and a small whimper were the only signs Rose gave of any pain he had caused her – he suspected she was holding in as much as possible so that he wouldn't worry about her. Bit late for that, he thought to himself as he strode down the corridor towards the infirmary.  
Rose gave another sigh of pain, and the Doctor held her closer to his body, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead as he did so.

"If I'd known I could get you to kiss me by bleeding, I would have smacked myself with a hammer months back."

The Doctor allowed himself a smile, even if it didn't quite reach his eyes. "If you really want me to kiss you again you can get better," he replied, smiling a little more as she rolled her eyes in a way that reminded him of his previous regeneration.

"What happened to 'I think you need a Doctor'?"

The Doctor froze, forgetting even that he had to take Rose to the infirmary, stopping dead in his tracks. He looked down at Rose, who did not seem to be joking as much as her words would have him believe. She was studying his face, searching for something. Slowly, the Doctor began walking again, choosing his words carefully so as not to give anything away.

"I thought you said you didn't remember that." Calm, he thought to himself, stay calm, she clearly remembers but that's OK, just keep a lid on it.

"I kept remembering bits, you know, in dreams and things – but that was the bit I remember best, the, erm...well the kissing bit." All of a sudden Rose seemed flustered, as though she wished she hadn't brought it up. Seeing Rose getting all nervous about it made something inside the Doctor twist painfully, and he decided to risk it.

"Well, a lot of stuff happened that day, with the regeneration and everything, but I have to say, Rose Tyler, that that's the bit I remember best too." And he looked down at her and he smiled, a real proper smile, the same smile he gave her when he first regenerated and she said she would still come with him, and when she returned it, the Doctor knew that Rose was going to be just fine.

-

Later, after the infirmary and the x-rays (two broken ribs) and the bandages and the painkillers, the Doctor took Rose and placed her gently in her bed – she had been sleep-deprived to start with, it was a wonder she hadn't dropped off like a log in the infirmary. She looked up at him sleepily, and he held her gaze as he leaned down and gently placed a kiss upon her lips. It only lasted for a second, but just before he pulled away he felt her lips pull into a smile, which he mirrored immediately. He quietly left the room as she drifted off, making his way back to the control room to check the TARDIS for damage. There wouldn't be any adventuring for a little while at least – Rose needed to get better and quite frankly, he thought to himself with an expression that bordered on a smug grin, she needed a Doctor.

_**Reviews please? Don't be shy, but please be gentle with me, I'm new to this.**_


End file.
